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Eric Joris & CREW, aXes

06 July 2013 - 25 August 2013

Artist Eric Joris used the exhibition aXes to showcase completely new pieces, with as a backdrop the location of Gaasbeek Castleitself, as well as the park. Two castle rooms were taken over by installation art that brought together films, holograms and drawings.

Marchioness Arconati Visconti, the last owner of the Gaasbeek Castle, was fascinated by the Renaissance. As unconventional as she was, she stubbornly continued to focus on the past, on the period before modernity, while the world around her was busy developing new forms of art. Eric Joris looked over her shoulder into the past and studied from a 21st-century perception the moment at which the geometric-optical perspective was discovered, which was in 1427 to be precise. That perspective can be felt all around the Gaasbeek Castle: in the panoramic views of the gardens, and in the enfilades of the doors between the rooms.

The Brussels company CREW and its team of artists, technicians, engineers and dramaturges has been setting up experimental pieces on immersion theatre and computer-assisted observation for more than ten years. The public is positioned inside the image in their performances and installations. In Gaasbeek, they are specifically experimenting with trifocal cameras, 3D drawings, motion sensors and special post-production techniques.

aXes was a new step in approaching representations. The images were drawn or filmed, moved or were static, but what was striking is that it was not just the spectator looking at the image - the image looked back: it is two-way traffic. The image is watching you. This kept the focus on the upheaval of the Renaissance and the phenomenal enigma of perspective throughout the entire exhibition.